Panthers fight to keep up with Islanders

Alejandro Hernandez/ Contributing Writer

The Florida Panthers ended the season winning the Atlantic Division and played the New York Islanders in the first round of the 2016 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday, April 14, Friday, April 15, and Sunday, April 17.

In front of over 17,000 fans in attendance the Panthers got off to an early start by scoring the first goal.

Teddy Purcell notched the first goal of the playoffs for the Panthers.

The Islanders and the Panthers kept trading goals until the third period when Kyle Okposo scored to make it 4-3, which gave the Islanders their first lead of the game assisted by captain John Tavares. The islanders ended up scoring another goal four minutes later to give them a two-goal lead late in the third period.

The Panthers had one late push in themselves when Reilly Smith cut the lead down to one with 13 minutes left in the third period. The Panthers peppered the Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss with 46 shots in the whole game.

Greiss was the main factor of game one as he made 42 saves to help the islanders take the first game of the series.

Tavares also had a huge impact in the game as he scored a goal and had two assists in the win.

Panthers defense and goaltending step up in game two as they tie the series.

The Panthers knew this was an important game of the series as their goaltender Roberto Luongo had a fantastic game in net. He had 41 saves and helped the Panthers win 3-1 which tied the series at one.

After their Thursday, April 14, defensive outrage the Panthers defense stepped up and had a solid game.

The Panthers once again got in early lead in game two as Smith started the goal, his third goal of the series in the first period. They extended the lead when Nick Bjugstad’s snapshot got passed to Greiss to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead at the end of two periods.

The score remained the same until Tavares scores his second goal of the series with three minutes left in the third period.

With the final seconds looming Luongo made some huge saves at the end to solidify the Panthers win.

The series then headed to Brooklyn for game three and four. The Panthers lost the third game to the Islanders.

The Panthers for the third straight game scored the early first goal. Smith continued his hot pace as he scored his fourth goal of the series to give the Panthers an early lead.

The Panthers kept the scoring going as they got to an early 2-0 lead as Aleksander Barkov notched his first career goal in the playoffs.

The main turning point of the game came when Aaron Ekblad scored a goal that ended up being disallowed after the Islanders challenged the play.

The Islanders would not give up. Each time the Panthers had a two-goal lead they would claw their way back into the hockey game. The game ended up going to overtime, the first in the series.

The two goaltenders fought to keep the game alive until the Islanders struck to win when Thomas Hickey scored the winning goal for the Islanders in overtime.

After having many opportunities in the game, the Panthers walked out down two games to one in the best of seven series. Game four will be Wednesday, April 20, in Brooklyn.